Friday, April 29, 2005

Numo drinking.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Cozy
I was chilled, and I figured Numo was chilled, so I put him in his snuggle sack. That's the pouch thing that Veronica the breeder makes and I got a red one from her. It hangs around my neck, with a top zipper to keep Numo secure and a mesh window for air and a view. Great for travel.

Here's Numo peeking at me after sleeping awhile:

He's surprisingly toasty for his size. Quite the little, living space heater. He took the chill off working on the computer!

Monday, April 25, 2005

Numo is ready for his closeup.

Friday, April 22, 2005

Holy Holey!
In the shower just now, I noticed this:

My fingers have holes! A side effect to having a hedgehog. Yes, he does hurt when he's in a ball. No, it doesn't hurt that much. He's only drew blood once, and that was just after I took a bath. Obviously, his quills do break the skin.

But the reciprocal is when he's running over an arm or hand and I get to feel his soft belly fur. Mmmm...soft hedg-eeee bell-eeee.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

The First Bath
Tuesday night, after chillin' on the couch, Numo has a little poop explosion and made a big ol' mess. I didn't realize until tonight that he covered a back leg in poop. Thus, his first bath.

On baths, Veronica told me he hates them, and I should really only bath him if he's made a mess of himself. This qualified. I was about to see how much he hated it.

He was fairly lowkey, in Numo terms. I put just enough water in the tub that near the drain was the deep end, but on the other end he had a little room to get out of the water. So, we played the game where I kept nudging him back into the water and brushing his back leg until he was poopless.

He is trying to plan escape from The Vast Tub:


I'm checking the leg for poop:


Numo tired of being in the handball:

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Chillin' On the Couch
Tonight I read a book under blankets while Numo found a good spot to sleep in:

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Turdface
Okay. First off, I should explain that my very first nickname in my time on this planet was "Turdface." I was born a month early and mom's labor was short. I was just like a little turd coming out, my mom says. Thus the nickname Turdface. My dad put a stop to this in a couple days.

Flash forward 30 some years. I take Numo out for his nightly run in his playpen area. He continues his torrid love affair with the toilet paper tube. His plugs his head in and pushes it around. Last night, he quickly pushed himself in a corner and gave up. So, I took the tube out, hoping he'd run around more. When I do this, he likes to try to burrow under and push his litter pan around. Usually this makes me give him his tube back, hoping that he won't tip the litter over on the carpet.

Last night he pushed his litter pan into a corner and he was halfway under it. I picked it up, away from being tipped over. He huffed and curled up and I realized that he had pooed next to the litter pan and was now on top of two poos.

Oh no. I trying to be quiet, so he wouldn't curl up and get caught up in his poo. No luck. One of them stuck to the side of his face! Stuck to the fur, right besdie his right eye. And his turds are surprisingly big for his small stature.

It was hilarious. And I felt embarrassed for him. I was trying to be quiet hoping he would run around and the poo would shake free.

We're still new to each other, which means that the closer I get, the tighter the ball he turns into. Granted, it only takes a couple minutes before he chills out and uncurls. But this means that I wouldn't be able to get close enough to manually get the poo off his face.

Thankfully, he ran a couple feet and then curled up again. The turd was on the outside.

Not before I snapped this pic:

Yes, I am awful.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

A-O-K
Numo just came home from a well pet visit at Chicago Exotics. He did just fine. A little huffy, but once he was in one place he'd poke his nose out and start exploring. Dr. Duke said he was sweet. I'll assume he wasn't too much trouble when she took him in back for weighing. 283 grams. And he's got his certificate of health for our trip to Minnesota the beginning of May. All is well.

He was just fine on the cab ride there, and just fine on the bus and train ride home. And above is him checking things out in his travel carrier. I travel with him in a pouch that hangs around my neck that's under my cardigan sweater, and I carry the carrier along just in case. I think he's pretty comfy in the pouch and I like that he's next to me, so I can feel if he's huffy, sleeping or digging around.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

RollerNumo
Numo's first roll in his giant Kritter Krawler.

Home Improvement
Numo wasn't going to the second floor of his cage where his wheel was. An improvement needed to be made. Thankfully, I thought of a pretty simple solution. I cut more out of the wire panel and switched out the tight curve for a straight Fun-nel segment. Much better. Numo took to going up and down the tube right away. *whew* And he did some wheeling last night, evidenced by the turds in the wheel. In the wild, hedgehogs "go" on the go. Makes sense when you're running across the ground, funny when you're running in a circle.

So it goes.

Next cage challenge - sewing liners that slip over floors like a pillowcase. Numo really like to dig under his liners. The half circle in white shows where he likes to hide. Thankfully, he doesn't poop where he sleeps, but I'm looking to improve the design so he can't get to down to the plastic layer.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Tough Photographic Subject
Quick and nocturnal.

Saturday, April 02, 2005